Aside from each having at least one of the best players in the league, all three teams have been ranked as the top dogs in the NBA for the upcoming season.

Interestingly enough, after ten consecutive seasons of winning at least 50 games (and getting graded a B for their offseason performance by ESPN ), the Dallas Mavericks enter the 2010-11 season outside looking in to the upper echelon teams of the league.

Mavericks owner Marc Cuban certainly believes otherwise. The other day when asked if Dallas could beat the Lakers next season Cuban stated,

"Hell yes. That's it. Hell yes. We've got the size now. We've got the depth. We've got a lot more depth than the Lakers. It's not even close there."

Not too surprising of a statement coming from a man that walked past Kenyon Martin's mom, calling her son a thug.

The Mavericks now rank number one in the NBA in seven footers, with four total after acquiring Tyson Chandler via trade this offseason .

While Dallas' roster looks beyond ridiculous on paper, we must take into consideration that it's simply just a piece of paper.

The Charlotte Bobcats released center Erick Dampier --who had a $13 million non-guaranteed expiring contract-- on Tuesday.

Dampier is set to clear waivers on Thursday and will then be available to sign with the team of his choice.

Of the possibilities that have surfaced thus far, the most intriguing is no other than joining the Miami Heat.

"They have some good, young talent down there and can do a lot of big things," Dampier toldThe Miami Herald. "Obviously, I want to be in a situation to compete for a championship. I haven't talked to my agent yet, so we'll go from there. But I've kept myself in good shape for 14 years, and still feel like I can play the game at a high level."

While Dampier might want to bring his talents to South Beach, the Heat can only offer the veteran's minimum, something that could turn the 35-year-old center away from actually signing with the team.

Dampier has career averages of 7.8 PPG, 7.4 RPG, and 1.5 BPG, on 49.7 percent shooting from the field.

Another problem that could surface if the free-agent were to join Miami is the starting center situation.

While Joel Anthony is projected to be the starting center and Zydrunas Ilgauskas is set to be his back-up, bringing in Dampier would cut into both centers playing time dramatically.

In addition to having potentially three centers on the teams roster, the Heat may also place Chris Bosh at the five spot periodically, lowering the playing time for all three big men even more.

Do you think the Miami Heat should bring in Erick Dampier? If so, should he move into the starting five role? What would happen with Big Z's playing time?

“If we can get our chemistry together and get on the same page, then, yes, everybody should be worried about us.”

That's what Milwaukee's young point-guard, Brandon Jennings, had to say about the teams off-season acquisitions.

With a quiet and rather unnoticed offseason touch-up, Jennings and the Bucks enter the 2010 NBA season as the dark horse of the Eastern Conference.

While all the hype surrounded the top dogs of the offseason's free agency, the Bucks front-office wisely sought out and acquired guard Chris Douglas-Roberts, veteran forward Corey Maggette, and Jon Brockman via trades.

Milwaukee's Andrew Bogut is already back on the court regaining his confidence after dislocating his right elbow and breaking his right index finger five months prior.

Before falling short to injuries the former first overall pick was averaging career-high numbers, knocking down 15.9 PPG and swatting 2.5 BPG (second best in the league).

With a healthy Andrew Bogut and Drew Gooden in the front-court, the upcoming of Brandon Jennings, the contributing of John Salmons and Corey Maggette in the scoring department, and the overall support of the Bucks roster, Milwaukee could quietly emerge as the next powerhouse of the Eastern Conference.

Each and every season there are certain players that receive the opportunity to step up and play a new role for their organization.

These athletes average more playing time per game which ultimately leads to more production.

With the 2010 Fantasy NBA season nearing, here is a list of NBAPrimetime’s Top Fantasy Sleepers to draft onto your team (in no particular order, rookies are excluded from this list).

Darren Collison (PG, IND)- Collison has transitioned from the back-up point-guard role in New Orleans to being the starting one guard after getting dealt to Indiana. Last season Collison enjoyed an impressive rookie campaign, posting 18.8 PPG, 9.1 APG, and 1.4 SPG in 37 starts. With those type of numbers you can expect Collison to be snatched up early on during draft day.

D.J. Augustin (PG, CHA)- Augustin has shown flashes of brilliance throughout his short two year career when getting the chance to play starters minutes. With Raymond Felton now out of the picture Augustin will battle with Shaun Livingston for the starting point-guard role. If he emerges as the favorite he will be a nice sleeper this season.

J.J. Hickson (PF, CLE)- Other than Mo Williams and Antawn Jamison the Cavaliers have no consistent producers aside from young gun J.J. Hickson. Head-coach Byron Scott already announced that Hickson would be the teams starting power-forward for the upcoming season with Jamison coming off of the bench as the sixth man.

During last season when Hickson logged 30+ minutes per game (13 games) the forward averaged 14.3 PPG and 7.1 RPG. With no LeBron James to steal away fantasy production, Hickson should be averaging around a double-double with at least a steal and block per game.

Reggie Williams (SF, GS)- During the final month and a half of the regular season Reggie Williams broke out of the D-League boundaries, placing himself into the fantasy spotlight. In 24 games Williams dropped 15.2 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 2.8 APG, and 1.0 SPG on an impressive 49.5 percent from the field and 83.9 percent from the charity stripe.

With Corey Maggette now in Milwaukee, Williams will most likely fill into the role as the starting small-forward and will certainly be a fantasy sleeper on draft day.

Roy Hibbert (C, IND)- The 7’2″ center made a big leap from his rookie to sophomore year, averaging 11.7 PPG, 5.7 RPG, and 1.6 BPG in 25.1 MPG during his second season. At the age of 23 Hibbert still has much room for improvement, but from the looks of things the big fella is destined to make another giant stride this season. With Troy Murphy shipped to New Jersey, expect the center to grab 7 plus RPG along with over 2 BPG and around 13-15 PPG.

Drew Gooden (PF, MIL)- Although Gooden has played for nine different teams throughout his career, one thing has remained constant. Every team that has allowed him to average 30 plus MPG has received at least 11.3 PPG and 8.3 RPG from the power-forward.

Gooden is an extremely consistent forward that could grab boards in bunches. It looks as if he will land the starting gig in Milwaukee which can only mean good news for fantasy owners that draft the poor man’s Carlos Boozer.

Anthony Randolph (SF/PF, NYK)- In 22.7 minutes per action last season Anthony Randolph managed to score 11.6 PPG while grabbing 6.5 RPG, distributing 1.3 APG, and rejecting 1.5 BPG. The forward has a wingspan well beyond that of a seven-footers and has a very high ceiling for being just 21 years of age.

In Mike D’Antoni’s run and gun system Randolph should be able to excel on both ends of the court. Reports are stating that he will start the season at the small-forward position.

George Hill (PG/SG, SAS)- Hill enjoyed a break-out season with Tony Parker on the sidelines for the majority of the season just last year. With Parker back at full strength Hill won’t be able to emerge as a top guard in the league just yet, but his fantasy value will still be worthy of selecting on draft day.

Amir Johnson/Linas Kleiza (SF, TOR)- Johnson logged 17.7 MPG last season (career-high) while shooting a leagues best 62.3 percent from the field (based on players that played over 60 games last season). With Hedo Turkoglu now on the Phoenix Suns roster the Toronto Raptors will turn to the five-year forward to start at the three spot or Linas Kleiza.

Kleiza averaged 17.1 PPG, 6.5 RPG, and 1.3 APG on 54.0 percent shooting during the Euroleague 09-10 season. The 25 year-old is a terrific shooter and slasher, filling the back-up role for Carmelo Anthony during his first four seasons in the NBA.

On a new Toronto team that is in desperate need of a starting small-forward, Kleiza could get the starting nod ahead of Amir Johnson. If so, Kleiza could post close to the same averages as he did in the Euroleague.